Dark Days/Light Years

Dark Days/Light Years
Studio album by Super Furry Animals
Released	16 March 2009
Recorded	2007–2009, Faster Recording Studio, Cardiff
Genre	Alternative rock, experimental rock
Length	60:02
Label	Rough Trade
Producer	Chris Shaw, Super Furry Animals
Professional reviews
Allmusic link The Guardian link NME (8/10) link Paste (84/100) link Pitchfork Media (8.3/10) link PopMatters (8/10) link Spin link The Sunday Times link Uncut link Under the Radar link
Super Furry Animals chronology
Hey Venus! (2007) Dark Days/Light Years (2009)
Alternative cover art
Vinyl cover art

Dark Days/Light Years, the ninth studio album by Super Furry Animals, was digitally released at 8pm on 16th March 2009 via the band's own website (www.superfurry.com) with a physical release following on the 21st of April on Rough Trade Records.^[1]. The album's title is taken from a lyric in the song "Moped Eyes" ("dark days seem light years away").

Many of the songs on the album are based around riffs and grooves the band have been working on for the last few years and features only one slow song which "isn't slow at all". The statement went on to claim that the saxophone and lap steel guitar have been consigned to the "banned instrument directive of the SFA board" with drummer Dafydd Ieuan apparently developing a phobia of the latter."^[1]. The band originally planned to record the album in Miraval, France like their previous effort Hey Venus!, but decided to record in Cardiff with a considerably lower budget than previous efforts.

The completion of the album was documented by a series of 22 short films that were shown on the Super Furry Animals website, with one film added each day leading up to its original digital release.

Longtime sleeve designer Pete Fowler collaborated with Hey Venus! artist Keiichi Tanaami to produce the album's artwork.^[1] The track "Inaugral Trams" includes spoken word German vocals by Franz Ferdinand's Nick McCarthy.^[2] The band broadcast a live show on their own website (superfurry.com) featuring songs from the album on the day of its digital release, which proved a success despite initial technical glitches.^[3] They didn't tour the album in a conventional manner, gigging infrequently.^[4]

The 12" vinyl release features different artwork from the CD version, and also has a free copy of the album on CD slipped inside the sleeve. The album peaked at #23 in the UK Album Charts in its first week of physical release. It may have charted higher but the band sold a number of pre-order copies and digital downloads via their website, which is not a registered chart company.

At just over an hour, it is the band's longest album.

Lyrical themes

Singer and chief lyric writer Gruff Rhys has claimed that "The Very Best Of Neil Diamond" is about how you can't choose the soundtrack to your life" while "Inaugural Trams" is "a celebratory anthem regarding the opening of a new tram line in a fictitious utopian mainland Europe town".^[5][6] The current economic downturn is referenced briefly in songs such as "Inaugural Trams" and "Inconvenience".

Musical style

According to Rhys the band made a "conscious decision really was not to include the slow numbers" on Dark Days/Light Years going on to state that "There are not a whole lot of chords in these songs; they're not as song-based in the conventional song writing. They've been developed out of band jams, but it turned out sounding like songs pretty much anyway".^[7]

Critical reception

Dark Days/Light Years received generally positive reviews, with Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, giving the album a score of 84 denoting "universal acclaim".^[8]

Tracklisting

All songs by Super Furry Animals. Spoken word lyrics on "Inaugural Trams" written by Alex Ragnew.

Lead vocals by Gruff Rhys unless otherwise stated.

1. "Crazy Naked Girls" - 6:15
   • Lead vocals: Gruff Rhys and Huw Bunford
2. "Mt." - 4:25
   • Lead vocals: Cian Ciaran
3. "Moped Eyes" - 4:13
4. "Inaugural Trams" - 5:19
   • Guest Vocals: Nick McCarthy
5. "Inconvenience" - 3:42
6. "Cardiff in the Sun" - 8:16
7. "The Very Best of Neil Diamond" - 4:14
8. "Helium Hearts" - 2:50
   • Lead vocals: Gruff Rhys and Cian Ciaran
9. "White Socks/Flip Flops" - 5:09
   • Lead vocals: Huw Bunford
10. "Where Do You Wanna Go?" - 2:28
11. "Lliwiau Llachar (Bright Colours)" - 3:12
12. "Pric" - 9:52
    • Lead vocals: Cian Ciaran

Personnel

The following people contributed to Dark Days/Light Years:^[9]

Band

• Gruff Rhys - vocals, guitar, electric saz, vocoder, keyboard
• Huw Bunford - guitar, bass guitar, electric saz, vocals
• Guto Pryce - bass guitar
• Cian Ciaran - keyboards, electronics, guitar, vocals
• Dafydd Ieuan - drums, vocals

Additional musicians

• Nick McCarthy - Spoken word on "Inaugural Trams"
• Kris Jenkins - Percussion
• Jessica Rochman - Strings

Recording personnel

• Chris Shaw – Co-Producer, Mixing, Engineering
• Super Furry Animals – Co-Producer
• Dave Newfeld – Recording of intro to "Crazy Naked Girls" (Miraval Studios)
• Stuart Hawkes – Mastering (Metropolis Mastering)

Artwork

• Keiichi Tanaami – Artwork
• Pete Fowler - Artwork

Accolades

References